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Friday, January 10, 2014

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (B+)

Bottom
Line: A venomously dark and strangely
enjoyable look past the front porch of a family in distress, AUGUST: OSAGE
COUNTY boasts one of the most impressive ensemble casts of the past year (yeah, I’m looking at you AMERICAN HUSTLE)…These diverged Midwestern families, reunited
by a recent family crisis, all seem to have it out for each other and before
the dust has a chance to settle – the verbal fists and physical claws
gloriously come out to play.Meryl
Streep and Julia Roberts (both poised to
easily nab a nom for best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively)
stir the pot in this remarkably written and expertly acted stage-play turned
motion picture.The characters are
layered, the situations are somewhat relatable and the tone is sometimes humorous,
almost always acidic.It may all seem
like a little too much at times, but this heatedly dysfunctional family
melodrama masterfully exposes corrosive relationships, dark secrets and heaps
of angst in a cruelly piercing way – and yet it still finds a way to occasionally
touch the heart.If you think you had it
bad with your family in town over the holidays – try this flick on for size…then
think again.

Story: AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY tells the dark, hilarious and deeply
touching story of the strong-willed women of the Weston family, whose lives
have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Midwest house they
grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them. Letts' play made
its Broadway debut in December 2007 after premiering at Chicago's legendary
Steppenwolf Theatre earlier that year. It continued with a successful
international run. (c) Weinstein